Life After Cancer Treatments (But I Still Have Cancer)

It’s been about a month since my last round of treatments, and I am still not sure how I feel about it. I am more than happy with the fact that I no longer need to hop on a plane every three weeks for it and travel 5000 miles. I am glad that I can finally create a “new normal” routine, but getting back to that new normal is taking way longer than I thought.

The first thing I needed to do was look for a part-time job since it’s off-season at my current place of employment. Since it is off-season at my current place of employment, it means no hours for me. I am an on-call employee, so it means I only get called into work if it is a busy day or someone calls in sick.

I’ve been finding it difficult to find a job since I am considered disabled. My immune system still is not great, and I need simple accommodations made for me, for example; I wouldn’t be able to a job that is considered vigorous work like pulling carts in the hot sun at a store. I had applied for a local company as a part-time seasonal cashier and had gotten a call to do an over the phone interview. It went great until we started talking about availability and hours. I had decided to disclose that I am disabled, but the accommodations that I needed to be made were to work 6 hours a day instead of 8. Keep in mind that this was a PART-TIME position that I applied for. The person interviewing me had then stated that part-time was 36 hours a week with working at least four days a week.

At most places that I worked in the past part-time with their company and hr was 20-25 hours a week. I thought it was a little ridicouls. Since I couldn’t meet their minimum requirements of 36 hours a week and I disclosed that I was disabled she told me, “You need to withdraw your application, we cannot provide accommodation for you, and we don’t hire people who are disabled.” I was pretty upset. On the company’s website where I applied, it states that they are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. I can tell you, folks; they were not.

Since then, I have had about five different interviews and have gotten one job offer, so things have been getting better. In the meantime, I have been keeping myself busy by really committing to my blog.